Doctor Who returned to BBC TV screens for the first time
in more than three years on Saturday 13th November 1999 with a special 'Doctor
Who Night' on BBC 2. Introduced by Tom
Baker the evening started at 8.55pm and
went on to 12.30am. The highlight of the evening was a forty minute
documentary titled "Doctor Who, Adventures in Space and Time". The Doctor's
assistants and the series writers revealed the background to the series and
each of The Doctors, from William Hartnell through to Paul McGann, were
featured in clips. Another documentary titled "Carnival of Monsters",
concentrated on the show's monsters and featured: the Daleks, Cybermen, The Master, Sea
Devils and the Sontarans .

The Evening also
included; a repeat of the classic 7th episode of "The
Daleks", three special
comedy sketches written by Mark Gatiss (one of the creators of the cult comedy
'The League of Gentlemen') and two short films from the BBC's science
department investigating the technology of Doctor Who and exploring the
scientific reality behind the science fiction. These explained the theory
behind the TARDIS and time traveling. The second documentary looked into how
the doctor is able to regenerate and so appear to live forever.

The
evening was then be rounded off with another showing of the 1996 Doctor Who
movie starring Paul McGann. As hoped, this version of the 1996 TV Movie was the
unedited version and was the first time that it has been shown complete in the
UK (even the video release was edited).

This evening turned
out to be something special especially as Tom Baker, who played the Fourth
Doctor, hosted the evening. It was also to be the prelude of a complete repeat
run of all the colour stories, on BBC 2 on Tuesday nights, which started with
the Jon Pertwee story "Spearhead
From Space".

A comedy sketch written by Mark Gatiss. It is 1963 and a young
television producer comes up with a novel idea for family
viewing.

21:05 Doctor Who
Night: Doctor Who: Adventures in Space and Time

A biography of Doctor Who, the ultimate Timelord. Each
generation of Doctor is described including the incredible feats and foes they
each faced are revealed by the writers, producers and fellow actors who played
the assistants.

21:45 Doctor Who
Night: How to Live Forever

Professor Tom Kirkwood, an expert on ageing, examines the
process of regeneration and explains how The Doctor keeps coming back and how
long he can carry on.

21:50 Doctor Who
Night: Carnival of Monsters

Documentary looking at some of the adversaries faced by The Doctor and how they were created.

22:20 Doctor Who
Night: The Web of Caves

2nd comedy sketch. The Doctor faced many bad adversaries of the
universe, but some aliens attempt to be more frightening than
others.

22:25 Doctor Who
Night: How to Build a TARDIS

Nuclear physicist, Doctor Jim Al-Khalili, explains how the
TARDIS works and looks into the theory of time traveling.

22:30 Doctor Who
Night: Doctor Who: The Daleks (Episode 7)

The Doctor's first encounter with the Daleks ends on the planet
Skaro as he attempts, along with his fellow companions, to save the
peace-loving Thals from their malicious mutant neighbours.

23:05 Doctor Who
Night: The Kidnappers

3rd and final comedy sketch of the evening. Staring Peter
Davison who finds himself kidnapped by two Doctor Who fans.

23:05 Doctor Who
(The Unedited Version)

The Doctor returns in the feature-length adventure set in San
Francisco on New Year's Eve where he finds himself, shot, newly regenerated and
then in a race against time to prevent his old adversary, The Master, from
destroying the Earth as the new millennium is about to
commence.